Part 4 (2/2)

=Ca.n.a.ls.=--Ca.n.a.ls easily rank among the most important means of traffic, as a rule, supplementing other navigable waters. Thus, by means of an elaborate system of ca.n.a.ls, goods are transferred by water, from one river-basin to another, so that practically all the navigable streams of western Europe are connected. Ca.n.a.ls are extensively used to avoid the falls or rapids that separate the various reaches of rivers. The water itself by means of locks lifts the boat to a higher level or transfers it to a lower reach, thus saving the expense of unloading, transferring, and reloading a cargo.

The manner in which ca.n.a.ls supplement the obstructed navigation of a river is seen in the case of the St. Lawrence. This river is obstructed in several places by rapids, but by means of ca.n.a.ls steams.h.i.+p service connects the Great Lakes, not only with Quebec, but with ports of the Mediterranean Sea as well; indeed, it is possible to send a cargo from Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, to Odessa or Batum, on the sh.o.r.es of the Black Sea.

The internal water-ways of Canada have been splendidly developed. The Canadian St. Marys Ca.n.a.l furnishes an outlet to Lake Superior for vessels drawing twenty-one feet. The Welland Ca.n.a.l connects Lakes Erie and Ontario. The Rideau Ca.n.a.l and River connect Kingston and Lake Ontario with the Ottawa, and the latter with its ca.n.a.ls is navigable to the St. Lawrence. With a population of less than six millions the Dominion Government has spent nearly one hundred million dollars in the improvement of internal water-ways.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PROFILE OF ERIE Ca.n.a.l

HORIZONTAL SCALE 100 MILES TO THE INCH, VERTICAL SCALE 1,000 FEET TO THE INCH]

In the United States the possible development of ca.n.a.ls has been neglected and, to a certain extent, stifled by railway building. The Erie Ca.n.a.l, built before the advent of the railway, connects Lake Erie with tide-water at Albany, a distance of 387 miles. For many years it was the chief means of traffic between the Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic seaboard, and although paralleled by the six tracks of a great railway system, it is still an important factor in the carriage of grain and certain cla.s.ses of slow freight.[9] The level way that made the ca.n.a.l possible is largely responsible for the decline of its importance, for the absence of steep grades enables a powerful locomotive to haul so many cars that the quick transit more than overbalances a very low ton rate by the ca.n.a.l.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Ca.n.a.l, designed to connect the Mississippi Valley with the Atlantic seaboard, fared much worse than the Erie Ca.n.a.l.

Less than two hundred miles have been completed, and practically no work except that of repair has been done since 1850; the heavy grades between c.u.mberland and Pittsburg render its completion improbable.

An excellent system of ca.n.a.ls, the Ohio and Erie and the Miami and Erie, connect the Ohio River with Lake Erie. These ca.n.a.ls are in the State of Ohio and aggregate about six hundred miles in length. They are important as coal and ore carriers. Several hundred miles of ca.n.a.ls were built along the river-valleys of eastern Pennsylvania before 1840 for carrying coal to tide-water. Most of them have been abandoned; one, the Delaware & Hudson Ca.n.a.l Co., survives as a railway. Inasmuch as the coal went on a down grade from the mines to the markets, it could be carried more economically by railway than by ca.n.a.l.

Of far greater importance are the St. Marys Ca.n.a.l on the Canadian side, and the St. Marys Falls Ca.n.a.l on the American side, of St. Marys River.

These ca.n.a.ls obviate the falls in St. Marys River and form the commercial outlet of Lake Superior. The tonnage of goods, mainly iron ore and coal, is about one-half greater than that of the Suez Ca.n.a.l.

About twenty-five thousand vessels pa.s.s through these ca.n.a.ls yearly.

The Chicago s.h.i.+p and Sanitary Ca.n.a.l,[10] from Lake Michigan to Lockport, on the Illinois River, was designed mainly to carry the sewage of Chicago which, prior to the construction of the ca.n.a.l, was poured into the lake through the Chicago River. The completion of the ca.n.a.l turned the course of the river and caused the water to flow out of the lake, carrying the city's sewage. It is intended to complete a navigable water-way from Chicago to St. Louis deep enough for vessels drawing fourteen feet. Its value is therefore strategic as well as industrial, for by means of it gun-boats may readily pa.s.s from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes.

Oceanic ca.n.a.ls are designed both for naval strategic purposes and for industrial uses. Thus, the Kaiser Wilhelm Ca.n.a.l, from the mouth of the Elbe to Kiel Bay, across the base of Jutland, saves two days between Hamburg and the Baltic ports. It also enables German war-vessels to concentrate quickly in either the North or the Baltic Sea. The Manchester s.h.i.+p Ca.n.a.l makes Manchester a seaport and saves the cost of trans-s.h.i.+pping freights by rail from Liverpool. The Corinth Ca.n.a.l across the isthmus that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece affords a much shorter route between Italian ports and Odessa. The North Holland s.h.i.+p Ca.n.a.l makes Amsterdam practically a seaport.

Probably no other highway of commerce since the discovery of the Cape route around Africa has caused such a great change and readjustment of trade between Europe and Asia as the Suez Ca.n.a.l. Sailing-vessels still take the Cape route, because the heavy towage tolls through the ca.n.a.l more than offset the gain in time. Steams.h.i.+ps have their own power and generally take the ca.n.a.l route, thereby saving about ten days in time and fuel, and about four thousand eight hundred miles in distance. In spite of the heavy tolls the saving is considerable. About three thousand five hundred vessels pa.s.s through the ca.n.a.l yearly.

The Suez Ca.n.a.l, constructed by Ferdinand de Lesseps, for some time was under the control of French capitalists. Subsequently, by the purchase of stock partly in open market and partly from the Khedive of Egypt, the control of the ca.n.a.l pa.s.sed into the hands of the English. The restrictions placed upon the pa.s.sage of war-s.h.i.+ps is such that the ca.n.a.l would be of little use to nations at war.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ROUTE OF THE PANAMA Ca.n.a.l]

The necessity of an interoceanic ca.n.a.l across the American continent has become more imperative year by year for fifty years. The discovery of gold in California caused an emigration from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast which resulted in a permanent settlement of the latter region. A railway across the Isthmus of Panama and another across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec have afforded very poor means of communication between oceans.

In 1881 work on a tide-level ca.n.a.l across the Isthmus of Panama was begun, but the plan was afterward changed to a high-level ca.n.a.l. The change was thought necessary partly on account of the great cost of the former, and partly because of the difficulties of constructing so deep a cut--about three hundred and forty feet--at the summit of the Culebra ridge. The construction company, after spending the entire capital--about one hundred and twenty million dollars--in accomplis.h.i.+ng one-tenth of the work, became bankrupt. The United States subsequently purchased the franchise.

A ca.n.a.l by way of Lake Nicaragua has also been projected, and two treaties with Great Britain, whereby the United States agreed to build no fortifications to guard it, have been made. No work beyond the surveys has yet been undertaken, however. The cost of each ca.n.a.l is estimated between one hundred and fifty million and two hundred million dollars. The Panama route will require about twelve hours for the pa.s.sage of a vessel; the Nicaragua route about sixty hours.[11] (_See map, p. 270._)

The completion of a ca.n.a.l by either route will cause a readjustment of the world's commerce far greater than that which followed the construction of the Suez Ca.n.a.l. By such a route San Francisco is brought nearer to London than Calcutta now is, and the all-water route between the Atlantic ports of the United States and those of China and j.a.pan will be shortened by upward of eight thousand miles. The importance of the Hawaiian Islands, already a great ocean depot, will be greatly increased, and the latter is becoming one of the great commercial stations of the world.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What were some of the effects which resulted from the various embargo and non-intercourse acts that preceded the war of 1812?

What is the effect upon an industry when all means of getting the products to market are cut off?

In the early history of the country rivers were the most important highways of commerce; obtain an account of some instance of this in detail.

Certain commodities have been carried about four-fifths of the distance between Moscow and Vladivostok by water, across Siberia. Ill.u.s.trate this, using the map of the Russian Empire, plate, p. 342.

<script>